This league has an eight-week season, so week 7 is where the games start to have a bit more of a playoff feel to them. Well, they are supposed to, anyway.
I was grouped with Erich Stinson, Bryce Revnew, and Jason Cortez. Going into this week’s games, Bryce was sitting in first with 113 standings points, Erich was in third with 107 standings points, and Jason Cortez was in eighth with 89 standings points. Meanwhile, I’m sitting way down there tied for 23rd with 60 standings points. A big night here would not only help my chances of making A division, but would be a huge psychological victory as well.
The game lineup: Attack from Mars, AC/DC, Medieval Madness, Metallica, Star Wars, Star Trek, Spiderman Vault Edition. Spiderman would be taken out of the lineup due to a malfunction (scoring phantom points due to a chattering switch) but one group did finish their game and submit a result before the malfunction happened.
We would begin the night on Metallica. I had just posted a 51.0M+ on this game during warmups, so I was eager to get on with it and repeat that performance. If only I could actually get it done. I would settle for third place with 8.9M+, saved only by Jason’s even worse 3.9M+. I feel like I had a decent game, it’s just that Bryce and Erich had better games than I did (12.3M+ and 19.0M+ respectively). Two standings points after one game…
Next up would be AC/DC. I can’t say I hate this game, but I feel like it’s just not a game that is a strong fit for my style of play. Nevertheless, I have to play every game to the best of my abilities. My 21.9M+ was a respectable score until Bryce puts up 35.6M+ and Erich blows it open with 84.3M+. Four standings points after two games. I’m starting to get a bit frustrated, but holding out hope things will get better.
Our game on Star Wars would bring more of the same. Erich takes first with 493.3M+, Bryce takes second with 228.9M+, and guess who would take third place yet again with 148.3M+? Yep. That’s me. (Jason finishes last with 114.5M+, but this is hardly comforting to me.) Six standings points, but if I can put together a couple of decent games I might finish with as many as 16 on the night, I was thinking.
Medieval Madness would be the next game. I have a couple of the Madness multiball rounds lit, but I drain before I can get multiball started. I sign off with a 1.9M+, good for another third behind Bryce’s 4.5M+ and Erich’s 2.3M+. Eight standings points, and at this point, I’m just playing the last game for pride.
As a further example of just how badly the night is going, I’m only able to put up a 440 on Ice Cold Beer in between games. Usually, I do better than that…
Attack From Mars would finish out the night’s contests. I get a decent start to this game but falter and wind up with 530M+. This time it’s Jason who would eek out a second ahead of me with 540M+, with Erich taking first place with 1.438B+.
Five games. Five third-place finishes. Ten standings points. One disappointed pinball player with the initials “SKQ”.
If I hadn’t already skipped two weeks, this was easily my drop week. I’m in a three-way tie for 21st with Chris Dyer and Chris Gonzales with 70 standings points going into the final week. Realistically, I need everything I can get to have any realistic hope of making A division, preferably a 25 but definitely no less than a 21. Mathematically, it might be possible with a 20, or maybe even a 19, but I’m not counting on it.
So far this season, the best I have put up is an 18 back in week 3. I have put up a 21 before back in week 2 of season 5 (spring 2017), but nothing higher. Here’s hoping that changes in week 8.
